At the beginning of March the gang invaded the beautiful sandstone of Red Rock just outside of Las Vegas for 3 days of climbing. Camping out Wednesday night was extremely cold, some Gatorade that was left outside froze overnight so the temps were definitely down in the 20s. I had my 32 degree summer bag and it definitely wasn’t enough, luckily every subsequent night got progressively warmer.
On Thursday Matt, Greg and I climbed Frogland, a 6 pitch 5.8 in the Black Velvet Canyon. This north face route was a bit chilly in the shade but Matt saved the day by bringing some chemical hand warmers that we all were grateful for. On Friday Matt and Greg were off to climb Levitation 29, a tough 5.11b so Tara, Ray, and I did some single pitch routes in the Willow Springs area including Curving Crack. Friday night the rest of the gang arrived including Brie, Carolyn, Jason, and Andrea.
Saturday the whole group assaulted Johnny Vegas, a very fun 4 pitch 5.7. Greg, Carolyn, and I led the way with Ray and Tara following up behind us. We made pretty good time so we decided to press on and climb Solar Slab until we needed to rap off and get Tara and Ray to the airport. Once the sun went behind the mountain and the wind kicked up things got a bit chilly. We spent much of the rappels shivering to stay warm but we manage to make it down just before dark. Photos of the journey are below:
Well the ski-mountaineering documentary STEEP finally came Boulder. I had been waiting for this movie to hit Boulder for a long time and couldn’t contain myself, I went and watched it right after work at their 5 p.m. showing. The movie definitely didn’t disappoint at all, and I had my expectations set really, really high. This movie is very different than your typical Warren Miller or Teton Gravity Research flix. It is a documentary chronicling the evolution of ski-mountaineering in the continental United States, Europe, and also Canada and Alaska. The story follows some of the pioneers like Bill Briggs that put big mountain skiing on the map and also the next generation like Doug Coombs who took it to a higher level. Being a Wyoming native I especially enjoyed the tale of Bill Brigg’s first ski descent of The Grand and also the glimpse into Doug Coombs’ life before it ended much too shortly. I went into the movie completely drained and in a bad mood from a long work week and came out of it completely inspired and invigorated. This movie will either speak to your soul and you’ll dream of taking your own personal games to the next level. Or you’ll be left scratching your head saying, “I just don’t get it, why do they do it?” If you have to ask, you’ll never understand. Anyway, I can’t recommend this movie enough. Here’s the trailer:
Also, for another fine film featuring Bill Briggs and Doug Coombs skiing The Grand CLICK HERE.
On Saturday Greg and I met up for some climbing at Hiddens Falls near the Wild Basin area of Rocky Mtn. National Park. Despite going to far on the trail and having to do some bushwhacking in thigh deep snow, we were the first party to arrive at the falls. The day ended up getting a little crowded, but everyone was cool and swapped ropes and we were able to get about 4 or 5 laps in. Photos are below:
These photos are a little late but worth posting nevertheless. Back in December a crew of 14 invaded the Colorado backcountry near Ashcroft, Colorado. The Lindley Hut sits at about 10,500 feet deep in the heart of Colorado’s magnificent Elk Range. The week prior to our trip the area received over 5 feet of snow which made me a little concerned about avalanche conditions. But we all played it conservative and was able to find some nice moderate tree runs that provided some safe and fun snow sliding. Check out the Picasa album below to see the photos:
One look at the Cynical Pinnacle and I knew I had to join Matt on Saturday to climb it. The formation attracts climbers from all around and the Center Route has been called the best 5.9 in Colorado. With a reputation like that, who could say no?
Matt and I got an alpine start, arriving at the trailhead a little after 11 a.m. These cragging adventures are nice, getting up at 3 a.m. gets old sometimes. There are 3 parking areas near the Cynical Pinnacle and Matt and I made the logical decision that the largest parking area would have the best trail. This logic seemed sound but the trail kept taking us in the opposite direction of the Cynical Pinnacle. After about 10 minutes or so Matt and I concluded that the trail we were on led to The Dome so we began to bushwhack cross-country in the general direction of the Cynical Pinnacle. After traversing the steep, loose hillside and navigating through and around large boulders we finally found a trail as we neared the base of the formation.
There was some minor scrambling to reach the base of the formation and one last surprise in store for us. A gully full of thorny bushes and plants with all kinds of pokey nastiness.
It probably took us an hour to reach the base of the climb. The weather was superb and the climbing looked fantastic as we taped and geared up. Matt headed off on the stellar first pitch, a hand and finger crack. The jams on the first pitch were solid all the way. Once Matt reached the belay I headed off, trailing our 2nd rope behind me. P1 was fantastic and I quickly joined Matt at the belay with a smile on my face.
The 2nd pitch of the Center Route is the crux and it is fairly long and pretty sustained 5.9. Just above the belay is a chimney section and the first of several bulges has to be surmounted. Following up P2 I was glad I went to Rocktober 2007 to get an education in crack climbing at Indian Creek, it was really helping out.
The jams on the 2nd pitch are pretty bomber most of the way with a couple of tricky bulges to get over. The sustained nature of the climbing soon had me sweating but my crack climbing technique is coming along fairly well and I joined Matt at the very cozy pod for the 2nd belay. This belay is very cramped but we managed. It was easier to have Matt trail the 2nd rope for the last pitch to get it out of the way and make sure it didn’t get hung up in a crack at the belay.
The 3rd pitch is a bit awkward since it widens up, requiring some chimneying and some offwidth techniques. When P3 narrows back to a crack it was too large for good hand and foot jams so I resorted to using some small edges on the face with my right foot. It worked well enough and I joined Matt at the top of the route to soak in the views and enjoy the phenomenal weather. Unfortunately there won’t be too many days like this left this year.
We packed up and began the loose, tedious descent back to the car. Loose rock on top of hardpan was the theme of the descent but we managed to get down with only a few spills just as the sun dipped below the horizon. All in all it was a fantastic day on a fantastic formation. The Center Route didn’t disappoint and the climbing was well worth the arduous approach. Another fine day in the Vertical Sanctuary.
Welcome to my blog, here you will find reports, photos, and videos from my various adventures in the Rockies and beyond. My main hobbies are climbing (rock and peak bagging), biking (mountain and road), snowboarding (resort and backcountry on my splitty), and any other activity that gets me outside. I have a website devoted to solely to mountain climbing here which has trip reports of all of Colorado 14ers, many on the Western state's highpoints, and Wyoming mountains in the Tetons and Wind Rivers.
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